Likeable
by Alyioop
Summary: Despite her attempts at espionage, Sirius Black has noticed Ophelia Marks keeping tabs on the self-proclaimed Marauders. He would like her to stay out of their business. She would just like him to stop distracting her.
1. Prelude

It had started near the end of fifth year.

Scratching quills and the soft fluttering of book pages accented the quiet of the library, but today it was punctuated by other noises. A quiet snicker, intense mutterings, and the soft glow of spell-work... all out of place in the library, all disrupting my concentration.

I didn't have to sit at this table, off in the back, mostly hidden away from the rest of the seating, but I had. It was my table. I always sat here. The interruptions to the quiet of my sanctuary had been going on for over a week and were getting rather ridiculous.

Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus... four boys, all in my year, all in my house... only Remus frequented the library with any regularity, and the fact that the four of them were now haunting the place was driving me mad. Why were they in here? What were they working on so intently?

Curiosity ate away at me, enough so that last night I'd tried to discretely peek at their little project, only to glimpse a large expanse of blank parchment settled in the middle of nearly ten or more open books. 'Can I help you?' Remus had asked stiffly, his usual politeness absent. To cover, I had asked him a question on that days transfiguration homework, and he'd answered me much more nicely than before.

I was trying to ignore them, today. It was proving difficult, because as I ran down the list of assignments we had, I could not think of any that honestly _required_ the library to complete... those boys did not study, not for any reason, let alone voluntarily.

"Why are they here?" I asked, staring disbelievingly at Sirius Blacks' bent form. He was _reading_ – quite intently, by the looks of it. It was uncharacteristic. It was abnormal. It was bothering me. "Well?" I cut a look at the girl who had joined me today, Lily Evans.

Lily rolled her eyes and didn't spare the boys even a glance. "I don't _know_ , Ophelia, and I don't care."

"They never come here," I commented suspiciously, now watching as Peter Pettigrew held out a book and pointed to a line, showing the rest of them something written there. Whatever it was, it spurred them into an intense, muttered discussion.

"Why do you care? They're being quiet, even Potter, I'd say it's a step up," Lily said evenly.

Lily Evans was well-known, for a fifth year. Despite her rare, fiery-red hair, she was most known around school for having a volatile temper. Screaming matches had taken place between her and James Potter on several occasions and their "feud," however one-sided, had become so well-known that even upperclassmen caught up on the latest gossip about it.

I hadn't really expected her to voluntarily pay any attention to the boys, no matter how unusual they were acting. Really, I didn't know why I was letting myself be so bothered with them... except that it was just like me to read something interesting and mysterious into something that probably was boring and silly. Life was more exciting that way – risks and drama, mystery and intrigue, there was never enough of it.

"It's a bit unusual, that's all," I defended weakly. She was never going to care, it was probably best I keep my interest in this to myself. I was a little disappointed not to be able to talk it over with someone and prepared myself to forget about it. If no one else cares, then why should I?

Remus Lupin guffawed loudly, then exclaimed "Aha!"

My eyes narrowed.

Who was I kidding? I _had_ to know what those boys were up to.


	2. Chapter 1

_**Sirius**  
_  
Whatever notice I gave to her, it was all circumstantial.

She was a small girl, all angles, and had a very breakable look about her. Her hair was dark and massive, tumbling around her like a mane on a lion. It was pretty enough, but she managed to negate the beauty by using her hair as something of a shield, always twiddling it and pretending to have to brush it somewhere or the other – it was a crutch that I found rather annoying in women.

In fact, there was no readily apparent part of her, appearance or immediate personality, that I liked. It wasn't that I didn't like _her_ , it was that I found more enjoyment in being with my friends than I did in wooing girls and even if I had wanted to woo a girl, I wouldn't have chosen her.

It was even bothersome that she had captured my attention at all.

Her name was Ophelia, which was annoyingly complex and lent itself to no easy nicknames. I had spoken to her on several occasions, but none of them were important or memorable. She was forgettable. She was delicate and dainty, even the way she held her quill seemed to indicate that she would balk at harder work.

"Sirius," a familiar voice cut across my thoughts.

I turned my head reluctantly, wondering if she would do something interesting the moment I looked away, and found James Potter staring down at me. His mussed up hair looked more messy than usual, indicating that he'd come from Quidditch practice.

"James," I mocked him, matching the severity in his tone.

James grinned despite himself and reached up to run a hand through his hair. It was his tell-tale nervous tick and I couldn't fathom what about this conversation would make him nervous, not unless his crush was in the room, which I knew she was not. I told him this and watched the smile slide from his face, a tiny frown replacing it.

He sighed at me and said, "I know you're worried, but it seems a bit excessive... all this... watching."

I cut a look to Ophelia, who was still sitting half the room away scribbling away on a bit of parchment and didn't look to have done anything interesting in the last few moments. Frowning at her, I replied, "She either knows or is onto us." At his unchanged expression, I added, "I'm pretty sure she had some sort of schedule in that notebook of hers and I _saw_ her watching Remus the other day."

"If she knows, then she obviously doesn't care," he pointed out, sounding a bit exasperated.

I scoffed. "If she knows, even if she _doesn't_ care, then we ought to nip it in the bud before she gets the bright idea to tell anyone." James opened his mouth, but I knew the retort he would give and interrupted, "And I'm watching her because we can't just tell her in case she _doesn't_ know at all."

His frown deepened and, softer now, James carefully broached a topic we usually shied from, "If you're trying to make up for the incident..." A hot wave of shame threatened to force my head down. I held his gaze, just barely, fear encroaching for a moment as I imagined him telling me that nothing could make up for that night. "...It's all forgiven, you know, you don't have to play guard-dog like this."

Despite the gravity of our conversation, we grinned at one another at the mention of guard-dogs, both of us amused at the casualness of the reference.

"I'm not," I replied then, hesitating, I corrected, "I'm just trying to be more careful. You ought to get the cloak out and join me, maybe together we can figure it out a bit faster."

James glanced over to Ophelia then raised a brow, opining, "She's just a normal bird, all we'd end up catching her doing is going to class and lounging around."

It was at this moment that the portrait swung open and a tall boy ducked through. He held himself with the maturity of someone twice his age, but otherwise looked as normal as any other average sixth year boy. Remus Lupin scanned the room, caught sight of us, and made his way over.

If anything would convince James of my suspicions, then Ophelia's reaction to Remus might be the ticket. Sharply elbowing him – and ignoring the glare of reproach I received for it – I murmured, " _Watch_ her."

Remus took the shortest route to us, cutting directly in front of the couch Ophelia had perched herself on. She looked up at him as he passed, then pulled out a Muggle-notebook and flipped through it. One hand annoyingly fiddled with her hair as she looked from the notebook to Remus' retreating figure several times. Her expression was irritating, I found, as she neither smiled nor frowned... it took a moment to identify that look as _thoughtful_ , which I liked less because I wondered what she was thinking about so intently as she watched my friend.

"Definitely strange," James muttered, finally giving her the suspicious look I was quite sure she deserved.

Reveling in the small victory was not to be, as Remus blocked our view of Ophelia and outright wondered, "What are you all doing, staring at Ophelia Marks like you're a couple of cats who spotted a mouse?"

I shot a look at James, silently communicating, _We ought not worry him with this right now._

In reply, his look agreed, _Best not to stress him out anymore than he already is._

These looks that spoke volumes were something of an annoyance to Remus, I knew, because he never failed to roll his eyes when he caught us at it. I imagined he felt left out, but it was usually in deference to his furry problem, so I never felt overly bad about it.

James waved the question off, "Sirius here was just contemplating asking her to the Hogsmede visit."

I inwardly cursed this idea and outwardly kicked James' ankle as hard as I dared without it being noticeable. Even if I had wanted to ask a bird out, it _wouldn't_ be her. As it happened, Hogsmede was a bore without James, Remus, and Peter to adventure with and a bird certainly would want to go to all the mundane places that I'd been to a hundred times.

To Remus, I declared, "I dunno about it though."

High hopes that Remus would change the subject were dashed as the sandy haired werewolf turned to spare Ophelia with a lingering glance. I shifted in my chair and furtively tried to look at her – I was becoming concerned that she would notice the three of us giving her these obvious and meaningful looks.

He turned back around and narrowed his eyes, saying, "You never ask girls out. What's new with this one?"

Cursing his perceptiveness, I tried to interject some measure of truth to counter the lack of enthusiasm, and retorted, "She's... caught my eye. I can't seem to shake the thought of her as of late." This caught his attention, as I knew it would, and he gave her another lingering stare.

"She's a sweet girl, don't string her along if you decide you're not interested anymore," Remus bestowed his blessing with, I thought, a hint more reluctance than he ought to have. I watched his face curiously, wondering if, perhaps, he had a little crush... but he didn't bat an eyelash as I stood, nodding, and flashed a purposefully unsettling grin.

James gave me a playful shove and said, "Go on, then. Can't have worse luck than I do with Lily."

Suppressing a scowl, I carefully made my way around various groups playing games or hosting study sessions towards a girl who I had no interest in. I tried not to scowl further when I realized I did have _some_ interest in her – just, not in dating her. Finding out her interest in someone I needed to protect, sure, but spending time in her company was decidedly not something I cared for. Although, I acknowledged, I might need to suck in up in order to accomplish my own goals.

I stood in front of her and frowned. She was leaning against the arm of the couch, her legs drawn up, and one small hand absentmindedly playing with the ends of her hair. I hated that habit the more I watched her. I disliked her petite stature; it wasn't that I didn't like petite girls, it was just that she looked so... weak... as if she were in need of protection. The way she scribbled, those long sloping letters that were frustratingly hard to read when one was trying to spy: everything about her was off-putting.

"Hello," Ophelia said.

It was the first time I'd heard her speak since starting to watch her and I rather resented her high-pitched, sugar-sweet voice. I frowned in response – I was never very good at pretending to be something I wasn't – and tried to smooth out my face.

She gave me a strange look and said, "Hi?"

"Hey Ophelia," I greeted finally, forcibly smiling. Deciding it best to get it over with, I jumped right in and asked, "Hogsmede is tomorrow... I was wondering if you'd like to go with me." I focused on her eyes, which were startlingly blue and hoped my dislike wasn't seeping through. She was pretty, after all, if one liked princess-like girls.

Perfectly groomed eyebrows shot upwards into her massive mane of hair and she frowned, asking, "Don't you go with your mates usually?" She was right – the Marauders usually stuck together, to the exclusion of everyone else. I loathed that she knew that even as a part of me knew that it was common knowledge.

"Yes," I acknowledged, stuffing my hands in the pockets of my robes as I became suddenly unsure of what I normally did with them. "Usually," I admitted again, then found my stride and added, "You're beautiful and I thought I could use a bit of time with someone prettier than James for a change."

Girls had always flocked to me despite my lack of general interest in spending time around them. In fact, I was always sure that my lack of interest had fueled their interest more than deterred it, over the years. If I wanted to, then I could have a girl to snog – or more – within the day. It had not occurred to me that Ophelia might be uninterested, but it was occurring now that she blinked up at me in pure surprise.

She smiled, but it was small and unsure. "You... like me?"

No, I thought to myself. To her, I gently countered, "I don't know you, but I'd like to."

That line seemed to win over and I felt a flicker of guilt as her smile bloomed further.

"That's sweet," she opined, her cheeks flushing red. "I'll go, yes."

"It's a date, then," I said, knowing that my tone was bleak.

Ophelia Marks stood, annoyingly short, and looked up at me. The challenge in her set jaw and sparkling eyes was completely out of character. I had no idea what cause she had to give me that look, but I stared blankly as she flippantly declared, "It's a date." 

* * *

**_Ophelia_**

"Do you want to go to Hogsmede with Lily and I tomorrow?" asked Marlene McKinnion offhandedly, running her hand along short, cropped black hair and peering at herself in the mirror. She wasn't one for primping, but she'd been dating Edgar Bones lately and had gone into the stage where she wanted to always looked good.

I looked up from my notebook, barely managing to register what she'd said. "Aren't you off with Edgar?"

She shook her head and explained, "Promised Lily it'd be a girls weekend."

"Oh, well, I have a date, actually," I was reluctant to tell her this, seeing as girls were prone to making a big deal out of these events, and this date was not a big deal. It was research – insight into a mystery. It was an adventure – horsing around with a known prankster. It was not the kind of date where we shyly traded smiles and tried to calm pounding hearts... not that I was opposed to that with him, just... this didn't seem like the right time.

Sirius Black had been watching me for about three days that I knew of. I wouldn't have noticed had I not been doing the exact same thing. Well, sort of. I'd been watching Remus Lupin more than any of them, but Sirius, James and Peter all had been apart of the careful observation I'd been doing. At this point, I was convinced that Remus was hiding something huge. Becoming _seriously_ involved with Sirius seemed like a conflict of interest when I was already semi-stalking one of his best mates.

Marlene waved a hand in my face and broke my thoughts. "A date? With who?" she asked, her voice pleasantly surprised. "You never go on dates."

"Sirius Black," I told her primly, hoping to look decidedly above the whole conversation.

"Sirius?" She blinked at me, looking confounded. "He's very handsome... exactly your type now that I think of it..." I thought about interrupting her to ask her why she thought that Sirius Black was my type, but stopped myself at the last moment, knowing how over-eager I would sound.

Deciding to get her opinion on the one point that bothered me, I ran my fingers through my hair to untangle it and asked, "He asked me yesterday and said I was beautiful... you don't think my agreeing is leading him on, do you?" At her expression of immediate distaste, I blurted, "I thought it would be fun, he's handsome and funny, but I mostly think he'd make a nice friend."

Marlene tutted at me and chided, "It sounds like he is doing this because he's interested in _you_ , not interested in making a new friend, Ophelia. He's already got friends that he's nearly inseparable from."

I had to admit that she had a point. Why would Sirius Black be watching me if not because he liked me? Why ask me out if not because he was interested in me? As much as this all made sense, I narrowed my eyes as I remembered all the times over the past three days that I'd caught him watching me. Paranoia was probably getting the best of me, but... those long, intense stares hadn't made it seem if he'd liked me. In fact, he was nearly glowering every time I caught his eye; I'd been getting the feeling that I'd either been caught staring too many times or that Sirius Black had developed a distaste for me.  
What if he were watching ME because he had noticed my watching HIM? I shouldn't even be so ridiculously caught up in this, yet the thought sounded more likely the more I entertained it... What if he had asked me out in order to investigate a little mystery, same as I?

Of course, I couldn't bounce that idea off of Marlene or anyone else, as no one had a clue that I'd been secretly documenting the comings and going of the sixth year Gryffindor boys. Even if I'd wanted to try and justify my stalking, I couldn't as I had nothing concrete to show for it all.

"I'm sure it'll all pan out," I shrugged dismissively. I'd felt awfully guilty about possibly leading on the handsome Sirius Black, but now that I knew – pretty much knew, anyway – that he was being nearly as devious as I was, I didn't feel very guilty at all.

Marlene stared at me in wonderment, plainly questioning my morals now that I'd dismissed it all so heartlessly, but I was too caught up in my thoughts to notice. "Sure it will," she agreed, her tone suggesting that she did not agree at all. 


	3. Chapter 2

**_Ophelia_**

The next day I was given a rude awakening by Marlene, who gave my blankets a cruel tug as she passed.

Burying my head in the pillow, I heard Lily snort and admonish her, "Let her sleep, Mar." I could hear Marlene busheling out the door, then, despite contradicting her own command, she nudged my side and commented, "You be careful today." That woke me up, because her tone was hard to place. I couldn't tell if she thought we'd get into trouble or if he'd _be_ the trouble... or if _I'd_ be the trouble.

I opened my eyes and watched her carefully organizing a pile of notes on her bed. She must have felt my eyes on her, because she turned and caught me in her startlingly intense gaze. One eyebrow raised towards vivid red hair, silently asking me what I was thinking.

"We'll be fine," I smiled sleepily.

Her gaze lingered until it was almost uncomfortable. Lily had a way of doing that – making people uncomfortable, that is. She was nice, friendly, but extremely opinionated. Quick to jump into confrontations and quicker still to call you out on anything she saw as a failing of your character, Lily was often annoyingly judgmental. We weren't extremely close, but Lily wasn't close with many people... and it didn't help that, as a side effect of sneaking about stalking the boys, I had avoided her.

Lily smiled, her all-knowing look finally becoming warmer. "I'm sure," she said doubtfully.

"It's _too_ early to be up, you guys," groaned the voice of another dorm-mate, Farrah Vance.

It could be said that the four of us – Lily, Marlene, Farrah, and I – were all our own little clique, but that was mostly the byproduct of being in the same dormitory for years. None of us were close, which I felt was kind of my fault. In the early years, Lily and I had clicked on several levels. We were both muggleborn, both enjoyed classes and studying more than the average student, and both had brought nearly matching owls to school; however, Lily often paired off with Severus Snape, a Slytherin boy she'd known since before school, for classes and free periods whenever she could, so we never grew as close as we would have otherwise. Marlene and Farrah, of course, had been thrown together whenever Lily and I went off, so they had grown closer... leaving me mostly on my own, or so it felt.

 _Speaking of, Lily probably is wondering what your problem is..._

The end of last term had seen the end of Severus Snape and Lily's friendship. Their falling out left the Slytherin looking lonely in classes, but saw that Lily and I's friendship strengthened two-fold seemingly overnight. _And you've avoided her for nearly a month in order to better stalk boys, you git,_ I thought to myself, feeling guilty. If I were honest with myself, then I didn't feel nearly as guilty as I should. She had chosen Snape over me for years – was I supposed to just be around more because now she magically had the time for me? I pushed it out of my mind. Dealing with Lily would have to wait. I should have been ready for my date by now. At this rate, I'd be late.

I waved my wand, whispering a few spells that did my make-up the way I wanted it. Ever since I'd learned the correct spells for flawless makeup application of a magazine in third year, I had almost never skipped a day putting it on. Late or not, I always got completely ready. Coming from Muggle parents, I'd watched my mother putting hers on slowly and carefully in the vanity each morning... the fact that it took seconds for me never failed to amaze me. Why skip it when it took so little time and effort?

Pausing for a second, I smiled at Farrah, who was rolling her eyes as she watched me from her place in bed.

Farrah and I had got along decently, but were generally opposites. I had never seen her wear make-up and she had often voiced that she didn't understand why I ever did, let alone why I did so every day without fail. "Morning sunshine," I joked, knowing she wouldn't appreciate my cheerfulness – she was an absolute bear before lunch, and I generally cheered up by the time I was ready to walk out of the door.

"You're dolled up more than usual," she commented, taking in my darkened eyeliner and cherry red lips with a look of mild disapproval.

I ran a hand through my hair, letting it fall around me haphazardly. There were spells that fixed hair, but I rather liked the way mine ran wild. It was nice to have something to keep my hands occupied with when situations became awkward. I fixed it for a moment just to bug her, then finally told explained, "I want to look nice for my date."

Lily shouldered her way into the bathroom, examining herself with a critical eye, but caught my gaze in the mirror and seemed to steel herself. "Have fun, okay? I'm sure it'll be entertaining if nothing else," she said, which I found sweet considering I knew Sirius Blacks' antics got on her nerves more than she found them amusing. I couldn't help being reminded that I needed to sort out our friendship. I couldn't keep avoiding her.

"Thanks, Lily," I smiled, knocking my shoulder gently into hers. "I will."

Nerves fluttering, I raced down to the carriages much later than I would have liked, only to find Sirius was already there. I hadn't pegged him for one to arrive early, or on time, and felt distinctly pleased.

If not for our little _conflict of interest_ , which I found nicer than saying _fact that you and your mates are clearly hiding something huge and I am dying to figure it out_ , I might have wanted this date to be the sweet, sappy kind that the girls were imagining it would be.

Sirius Black was handsome, there was no denying that. It was hard to pin-point exactly any one thing that made him attractive because it was _everything_. He had high-set cheekbones and dark, soulful eyes. His black hair whipped around his head as he stood waiting for me.

More than simply his looks, he held himself tall and proud, like he expected people to take notice of him. The confidence he eluded made him something of a magnet for girls... and the fact that he didn't seem to care about that only enhanced it.

From what I'd seen over the years, Sirius looked like a fun person. He was constantly laughing with his friends, sharing pranks, having little inside jokes...

I'd never had someone to prank with, or run about the castle with, or look at me and just _know_ what I was thinking about; the friends I had never meshed well enough to become that close. I saw him standing there, hands shoved into his pockets, and had never wanted so desperately in my life to be someones friend as I did just then. All I wanted whenever I saw Sirius Black was to have just a little piece of the friendship I knew he was capable of – it was a big part of why I'd agreed to a date with him. Of course, it helped that he was gorgeous and caught up in a mystery I intended to solve.

I stopped in front of him abruptly, having nearly run all the way down, and panted slightly. A blush rose in my cheeks despite myself as he watched me, and greeted, "Hey, I was beginning to think you'd stood me up."

Smiling, still a little breathless, I shook my head and let him help me into a carriage. His proximity set me on edge – he smelled good, like a forest after the rain. Y _ou are not interested in being girly and sappy with him_ , I told myself sternly. Even still, I liked the smell.

"'course not," I grinned at him.

It was an awkward ride down to the village. We were somewhat crushed together in the carriage, so our shoulders and knees kept knocking together. There was nothing to talk about either; we spent the entire ride in an uncomfortable silence, both of us casually looking around as if something interesting would pop up in front of us to distract from the oddness.

I had no idea if dates were always like this, but if so, then I could easily go and tell everyone why Sirius – and myself – generally didn't go on dates. How were you even supposed to get to know someone with all this pressure? What was I supposed to say? As attractive as he was, I didn't want to take this as seriously as dates were usually taken. How was I supposed to turn this into a fun little friendship, anyway?

As the carriage rumbled to a halt, I steeled myself.

Act normal. What _was_ normal for me? 

* * *

**_Sirius_**

The both of us nearly fell out of the carriage in our haste to put some distance between us. There was something unnerving about the way she smelled all sweet, like a pastry or a pie, as if she were something to be devoured. I didn't _want_ to devour her in any sense and I particularly didn't like that I was even thinking about it.

Despite the awkwardness, I reached out and steadied her as she clumsily found her balance after jumping out of the carriage. She was too short to step out properly; some people might have thought that endearing, but I mostly found it ridiculous.

She turned and flashed a blinding smile that was all teeth and dimples. "Zonkos," she declared, her voice hard, like she'd just remembered something very interesting and absolutely had to follow up on it.

"I do need to stock up," I agreed mildly. I knew I should probably make an effort to sound more enthusiastic, but I couldn't imagine there being much exciting about anywhere we could end up going.

I expected her to comment on stocking up at a joke shop, try to delve into that for something to talk about, but instead she slipped her hand into mine and said, "Me too."

She pulled me along, grinning madly, going so fast that she might have been running if not for the fact that she was dragging me behind her. I had no idea where her enthusiasm had come from; I didn't think I'd ever really seen her using any kind of Zonko's product, but then again I'd only been really paying attention to her for a few days.

Unhappily noting the irony in it, I couldn't resist asking her, "What do _you_ need to be stocking up on?"

We slowed as we neared the entrance and, catching her breath a bit, Ophelia winked and said, "Dungbombs, for one."

" _Dungbombs_? _"_ I exclaimed in confusion, unsure if I'd heard her correctly.

Dungbombs were much like the name implied – they were a small, round bomb that could be thrown and, when it went off, put out a horrid smell of dung that was impressively hard to get rid of. They proved a usual distraction and a very simple, but satisfying way of disrupting the day of people you didn't like. James, Remus, Peter, and I had used two only a few nights ago to get revenge on Filch, the caretaker.

Ophelia pushed the door open and held it open for me, which I felt was what I was supposed to be doing. Her hand managed to find mine again as she nonchalantly explained, "Dead useful for a distraction when you're in a jam."

I rolled my eyes and snapped, "I know that." For whatever reason, my pretense was dropping and I was no longer trying to be on my best behavior. Exasperated, I rephrased it, asking, "Why do _you_ need a distraction? It's not like you're off getting into trouble all the time."

"How do _you_ know what I'm off doing all the time?" Ophelia retorted primly, rolling her eyes right back at me.

My annoyance dropped off, and I let her lead me right to a display of Screaming Yo-Yos before I managed to say, "I don't, I guess." Feeling oddly awkward, I forced myself to be honest. "You just don't seem like the type to be carrying around this kind of stuff, let alone to be out rule-breaking."

"Well, that just goes to show that you don't know me too well," she declared. As if to contradict herself, she twirled the ends of her hair idly and eyed the Pygmy Puffs with a soft expression. Shaking herself out of it, Ophelia pulled me around, collecting dungbombs and a small army of potions, most of which she snatched hurriedly without letting me see the names of. "Then again, I guess that's what dates are for."

I idly tossed a dungbomb in the air, ignoring the way several people around me backed away in alarm. "'suppose so," I agreed. She laid her items on the counter and paid happily, stuffing them into a little bag she had slung around her. "Where to next, then, prankster?" I mocked her gently.

"Let's just wander... you know, I really am a decent prankster, despite your disbelief," she laughed, the sound all tinkling and high. "Besides, it's not like you're some mastermind over there."

"Not a mastermind?" I pretended to balk. "I once made everything that appeared on the Slytherin's table taste like ear wax." Her giggle egged me on. "I once made every suit of armor in the school decide it was a good idea to attend classes as if they were students. I _once_ charmed the corridor leading to the Slytherin common room to look like the one next over so that they all got lost trying to find their own dorms."

Ophelia laughed. "You did that all yourself?" she asked knowingly.

Bumping my side against hers, I winked when she looked up at me. "As a mastermind, I do retain a few people who help carry out the more convoluted plans."

"You mean James, Peter, and Remus?"

"Yes," I laughed, not even sure why I was laughing at all. "They're masterminds, too," I admitted.

We turned a corner and strolled down a side street, making our way away from the main street that held the most popular shops. It was much less crowded the further we went – most of these shops were catered to the locals, not tourists. I'd explored the village a dozen times over the years, though, and knew the streets by heart.

Just when I thought nothing could surprise me, I saw it.

Ophelia had noticed, too, and said, "Ooh, look, a motorcycle! I didn't think anyone here would have Muggle transportation -"

I cut her off, tugging her along with me as I approached the bike. It was glorious. I'd always wanted a motorcycle. It was something about the way people looked on them, or maybe something about the way it roared when you drove it, or even the idea of my parents faces twisted in disgust at the idea of them. A sign propped up on it read, ' _Flying motorcycle!_ ' and the price, which was a small fortune.

"It's fantastic," I declared, reverently touching the handlebars. "I need this."

Ophelia peered inside the shop, looking for the shop-keep, who was nowhere in sight. Flipping her hair, she straddled the bike and gripped the handles experimentally. She was hilariously too small for it, like a child playing with the big-kid toys. "It's a good one, I think. My dad has one a lot like this."

I jerked my head up at that. "You have one of these? You're a muggleborn, aren't you? I'd forgot."

She smiled. "My dad does, yeah. He takes me for rides, sometimes, it's great. It's pure freedom, better than a broom, if you ask me." Pure freedom, she'd said. The words rang true to me and I looked at her properly. Her smile was wide and happy, and she winked cheekily as she pretended to rev the bike. I swallowed, my throat suddenly tight.

"I've always wanted one," I confessed, giving the bike another once over, "My family – they loathe Muggles – they'd hate it."

Ophelia nodded. "Black, yeah, I've heard enough over the years..." The way she trailed off made me wonder what she'd heard, but I didn't ask and she steered the conversation away. "A bike would be awesome, but do you have the gallons for it? Even if you did, where would you keep it, in your dorm?"

I stared at the price, inwardly cursing her logic. "I don't," I said irritably, "What student would? If I did, then I'd just keep it at James' place... but I don't, do I? The price on this is pretty high, maybe I could talk the shop-keep down a bit..."

"Would 'down a bit' make it affordable?" she asked, sounding like she doubted the possibility.

Rolling my eyes, I admitted, "No. I've only got... pocket money."

In reality, I had a just under a hundred gallons, which was quite a bit for a student with no income, but I had no intentions of telling _her_ how much I had. She'd wonder how I got it – I certainly wasn't comfortable telling her that, before leaving this summer, I'd been regularly nicking some of the Black family heirlooms to sell. I hadn't gotten my own money to spend from my parents since I'd been sorted into Gryffindor.

Ophelia hummed thoughtfully. "I have..." She rummaged around her pockets and counted up her findings. " _Six_ gallons! Here you are." With that, she held out her hand, ready to hand it over.

"That's quite a hefty sum," I joked, amused despite myself.

I wanted to dislike this nosy, annoying girl, but it was harder done than said. Especially when she was being funny and offering over her money for a distant dream purchase – how could I dislike someone doing that? Nosy, sweet git, I thought spitefully.

Snorting, I pushed her hand away. "You hold onto that and when I'm six gallons away, then I'll hit you up."

Ophelia pocketed her money, laughing. "Deal!"

The door jingled, opening to reveal a frowning shop-keeper. "You can't sit there," he said, pointing at Ophelia, who blinked at him. She scrambled off after a moment and I took the opportunity to stroll over to him.

"Have you had that motorcycle for very long?" I asked. The last I'd been through here, the bike hadn't been around. I was sure I'd have noticed – James would have been inspecting it with me, Peter would have been asking about a sidecar (no aptitude for flying anything, the poor bloke), and Remus would have been lecturing us about the safety of it all.

The shop-keeper, distracted, shook his head. "Got it in a week or so ago, dunno _why_ he-" I had no idea who he was talking about, maybe the owner of the shop. "-bothered with it. It'll probably sit here for ages before anybody reckless enough blows the gallons on it."

"It'll sit here a while, then," I parroted idly. Maybe it would sit long enough for me to save up the gallons for it. Kind of a hopeful thought, but hey, a guy can dream...

"Probably," he replied, rolling his eyes. "I'll be inside. Make sure that girl doesn't muck around any closer to the bike, will you?" With that, he ducked back through the door. Muck around any closer? Confused, I glanced around, only to see Ophelia leaning casually against the wall, her wand in hand.

She was giggling and staring at something. Following her line of vision, I watched as a villager strolled by the nearest corner and, as he passed by, was suddenly assaulted by a tornado of leaves that vaulted up from the ground. The man batted at them, cursing and flailing, until he managed to get far enough away that the leaves settled back down.

I laughed, surprised. "You're a little menace!"

"Am not-"

"You _are_ ," I told her. Moving so that I was partially shielded behind her, I discretely flicked my wand as another person walked by, adjusting the charms pronunciation so that the leaves were much faster than before. Ophelia snickered and looked over her shoulder at me. "How'd you do that?"

I wiggled my eyebrows. "Magic."

She huffed and smacked my arm with the back of her hand, but was grinning a small, manic smile that I was coming to associate with her. I couldn't help grinning back at her – there was something very nice about pulling pranks with someone new.

Having someone clearly on your side, helping you, hiding with you, laughing with you over something secret... I watched her sneakily play jokes on the locals, and realized, belatedly, that I was thinking of the feeling that came with making a new friend. I hadn't made a new friend since... first year? There were plenty of people I knew and spoke to on occasion, but the Marauders were the only close friends I'd ever wanted or needed. I hadn't pulled a prank with someone other than them, ever.

It was almost – no, it _was_ – irritating, the way she'd manage to get around my dislike and make spending time around her so pleasant. _I don't like her_ , I reminded myself, _she's girly and vain and definitely has been overly interested in what we're up to._

It was hard to keep that feeling around when she turned, making me realize I'd been standing far too close, and asked, "Wanna get a butterbeer... or we could steal that bike and fly away somewhere?"

Shaking my head, I caught her arm and led her away, saying, "I think you're a bad influence, Ophelia Marks."

"I just like a little adventure," she laughed.

It was then that the warm, fuzzy feeling in the pit of my stomach finally eased... because I had thought of the perfect opening to probe into what she was up to, spying so intently on Remus and the rest of us. Careful not to let my tone change, I tightened my arm around her shoulders and casually stated, "You know, I hadn't been sure you'd want to come here with me today."

Too easily, she fell right into what I expected: she blinked and asked, "Why's that?"

"Well," I started, making sure to watch her expression, "I thought perhaps you liked Remus. I've noticed you watching him an awful lot."

At the mention of Remus, her face went ever so slightly red. For a long moment that bothered me more than I cared to admit, I wondered if she actually _did_ like Remus, but then she peeked up at me from under her eyelashes and I saw that glint in her eye, the all too knowing glint of someone who knew more than they should and was challenging the other person to call them out on it.

It wasn't a question of being subtle once I saw that. As much as I knew I should, I couldn't back down from the perceived challenge. Quick as a wink, I steered her into a doorway and cornered her against the frame, demanding, "What do you know?"

I would have felt a little guilty, trying to intimidate her like that, but there was no need as she set her jaw and snapped back, "What do you _think_ I know?"

"Nice try," I glared, "I know you were watching us all, Remus in particular, but _why?_ "

Her gaze softened slightly and she shrugged a little half-shrug, explaining, "You were in the library, the lot of you. Remus, he gets sick. Often. And one time he knew what I had for breakfast even though I know he hadn't seen me eating it, which, I know sounds mad... but I'm not crazy."

I blinked, not fully having expected an explanation and unsure of how to proceed without the full extent of my righteous anger behind me. In a gentler tone, I probed, "And you think this means... what? None of that is proof of anything."

"I think it means that Remus is not as normal as he seems," she dared me to disagree, tilting her head up to meet my gaze. "And I think it means you all are up to _something_ bigger than a simple prank. I don't know if the two are connected, but _something_ is going on here."

I leaned in until my face was uncomfortably close to hers and demanded, "Why do you care?" She was uneasy, I could tell, but I didn't let up. "What does it matter what we're up to? You don't know me, or Remus, or any of us. Why don't you just stay out of our business?"

"I just want to know, it's not like I'm going to hold it over you all," she snapped, half-annoyed and half-hurt. Her eyes were misting up despite her best efforts to retain a look of annoyance on her face, which was making me feel simultaneously guilty and annoyed.

Sighing, I told her, "I'm _not_ going to tell you and you're _not_ going to find out what it is. It's not anything you need to be concerned with, just leave it _alone_ , okay?"

Ophelia looked away, glancing around as if not wanting to meet my eyes, but finally did. Looking determined, she firmly said, "I'm going to find out, like it or not."  
I definitely didn't like her... I knew my instincts were right about this girl. What bothered me most of all was that she had grown on me and despite my annoyance I found myself unable to say anything as harsh as I otherwise would have. Under normal circumstances, I'd threaten to make her life hell if she kept nosing around in our business... but I just _couldn't_. I kept picturing her back on that bike, trying to hand me all the money she had in her pockets, and felt the most annoying surge of fondness.

"You're a pest," I insulted, giving her an angry stare that would have put most people in their place.

She frowned, looking a bit hurt, but finally asked in a small voice, "So did you want to go get that butterbeer?"

I tossed up my hands, groaning in frustration, and snapped, "Fine," because really, what else was I supposed to do?


	4. Chapter 3

**_Ophelia_**

After our confrontation, I no longer felt daring enough to take Sirius' hand – they were jammed in his robe pockets anyhow – and we plodded along in relative silence.

Now that everything was out in the open, I wasn't sure how to proceed. Some part of me was rejoicing that I'd been right about his reasons for asking me out, but another part was disappointed. I had been having a few daydreams about future dates... after I'd ferreted out all of the secrets he and his friends were guarding... and, unsurprisingly, he didn't seem too pleased about the idea of someone relentlessly learning he and his friends secrets despite being asked not to.

"So," I started, craning my head around to try and make eye contact, "Someone told me you know where the kitchens are."

His hand darted out and my breath hitched, but he only snatched my upper arm to yank me sideways so that I narrowly avoided collision with a streetlamp I'd been about to walk into. He still avoiding looking at me when he testily replied, "I do, but I'm not telling you."

I knocked my elbow into his ribs and was rewarded with his first glance since our confrontation. Wiggling my eyebrows over-dramatically, I teased, "What? Another secret?"

Sirius sighed, "No, I was just being mean. I'll show you sometime. It's a bit hard to find if you aren't very familiar with the corridors around there."

He sounded so business-like about it that it killed my enthusiasm a bit. Then again, offering to show me meant we'd have to speak on another occasion, which meant he couldn't completely hate me. _Not complete hatred, wow, what a success,_ I bemoaned. Outwardly, I beamed at him, hopeful I could encourage even less hatred.

"You'd consort with a pest more than once?" I asked in mock surprise, hand over my heart.

"You _are_ a pest," he agreed irritably, ignoring the question.

With more confidence than I even knew I had, I sweetly opined, "I think you like me a bit anyway."

I had no idea what I was doing, truth be told. Was I flirting? Was I trying to be endearing? When I had decided to simply beat him into a friendship with sheer stubbornness? For whatever reason, my mouth was working faster than my brain.

"I'd like you more if you agreed to stay out of my business," came his retort.

"Well, that's fine, it's Lupin that has the most secrets, not you."

Sirius shot me a dark look and opened his mouth to snap something back, but we'd stepped into the Three Broomsticks at the same moment. He led me to a booth in the back, half-hidden away from most of the crowd, and nearly shoved me into the seat, then went up to the bar.

I watched him make the owner – a young women a few years older than us – behind the bar laugh and blush prettily, and wondered if he intended to abandon me there. It wouldn't surprise me. I'd seen Sirius pull a few pranks that were downright cruel and he was, I guessed, justified in not liking me. Just as I contemplated going up to get my own drink, I saw him turn around and head back my way. I fought off a smile when I noticed he had two butterbeers.

"You came back."

He relaxed into the booth and took a long swig, dark eyebrows knitting neatly in confusion. "Well yeah," he replied waspishly, and I thought it was kind of sweet that he hadn't considered ditching me. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, he finally broke. "So, what's your favorite color?"

I could feel the awkwardness in the air, it was so thick, but I tried to ignore it. "Pink," I told him.

"Typical girl," he scoffed. It didn't seem scornful, just playful. "Mine is gold."

"Die-hard Gryffindor, are you?"

The rest of the time went along in the same manner, with us exchanging answers to questions that people only really asked on first dates anyway and filling in the rest by relentlessly poking at and plaguing the other. There was much eye-rolling, grousing, and scoffing on both sides, but neither of us made any move to leave until the sun had nearly set and almost everyone had already returned back up the castle. It had been... nice, interesting, and I wondered what he thought of it all. Did he want my friendship, or did he not care at all? It was hard to tell. He'd spent the entire day with me, longer than he had to, longer than most dates went on for, but he'd been a bit of a tosser, too. It made my head hurt to contemplate, so I gave up.

In the common room, when we finally made it up, we stopped short of where his friends sat and Sirius lowered his voice for privacy, leaning in to be sure no one overheard. He was so close I could see that I could see my own reflection in his eyes, which were a stormy gray, and I wanted to kick myself for getting breathless by his proximity.

It was the kind of moment where a girl might expect to be told that the date was fun, or maybe get a kiss if it'd gone really well, but Sirius Black lowly warned, "I don't like you, you know. You really ought to stay out of our business."

I should have said something back, but he turned on his heel and left me standing there. With a toss of my hair – I suppressed my urge to scowl or make a childish face at him – I managed to gracefully ascend the stairs. He hadn't _seemed_ to hate me at any point, so, what was his deal anyway? _Boys,_ I thought, _they're more trouble than they're worth._ I didn't learn a thing about my mystery and I couldn't decide whether we'd been close to friendship or on opposite sides of a battlefield.

Stalking inside the dormitory, I flopped onto my bed, buried my head into a pillow, and let out a frustrated scream – much to Marlene and Farrah's amusement. _He doesn't like me, well, he's a liar... besides, he isn't exactly the greatest person anyway, the arrogant berk._ My thoughts were a jumbled mixture of confusion, hurt, annoyance, and fondness, but finally I remembered myself. _Focus on something else. You've got a mystery to solve and Sirius is obviously not going to be much help, he's going to be a complete distraction. Pull yourself together._

Sitting upright, I calmly addressed the two of them, "Before you ask, the date was fine, but no, I don't think I'll go on another."

Marlene, looking more alarmed than confused, nudged Farrah. The two of them exchanged wide-eyed looks, then, struck by the ridiculous contrast of my muffled screaming and my apparent calm, set off into peels of laughter, which were apparently contagious, because I was soon giggling along with them. 

**_Sirius_**

"How was it, then?" James wondered, smirking.

Peter added, "You looked cozy just then."

Remus raised an eyebrow, smiling expectantly.

I didn't know what to say. How was it? It hadn't been all bad. She was okay company, when she stopped being a pest, but that was hardly the point. I'd gotten what I'd wanted. I knew what she was up to. There would be more dating, no more anything, just being safe and making sure she kept her nose out of our business. It didn't matter if it felt nice to prank with her or that I could perfectly recall her face lit up with that manic smile. The real question was what to tell Remus. Did I worry him with it, or not?

Without thinking on it much, I knew that he needed to know. It was Remus who had the most to lose. It was his secret and I wasn't going to make the mistake of deciding for him who got to know. Not again.

"She wants to figure out what we're up to," I told them, focusing on Remus. His smile faded, leaving completely when I continued, "She thinks something is _off_ about you in particular, Moony."

James cut in, gentler, "We weren't sure, she just seemed interested in you... are you sure, Pads?"

"She _told_ me," I replied, shrugging. "She said she's going to figure it out. I don't think we can convince her it's just in her head."

Peter piped up, confused, "Then what do we do?"

Remus, frowning, asked urgently, "Does she know anything yet?"

I made a face. "She doesn't know anything. She just suspects that there's something to know."

"Then we do _nothing,_ " James cut in authoritatively. We looked to him and fell silent and he continued, saying, "We just need to be extra careful. She hasn't figured anything out, we'll just be sure to give her no proof of anything. She'll stop looking if she never finds anything. You might want to avoid her, unless you think that's more suspicious, Remus."

The werewolf shook his head. "I think Lily invited her to our study group. I can't just avoid her there. Besides, she's a nice girl and she's right... there is something to figure out. How can I blame her for noticing?"

"She should keep her nose out of our business," I muttered darkly.

Remus gave me a knowing look, and I couldn't hold his gaze. He knew that I still felt guilty for what happened with Snape. "Padfoot, relax, she doesn't know anything. She won't find out."

I felt worse listening to _him_ comfort _me._ Wasn't I supposed to be comforting him? He was the one whose life would be ruined if his secret got out, not mine. I scowled.

"She seemed taken with Padfoot, anyway, I'm sure he can distract her if she gets too nosy," Peter teased suddenly, causing both James and Remus to snicker.

Remus and James joined in on the teasing, commenting on how long we were gone and the way she'd looked when they saw us together. I endured their playful jabs and gave a growl back, tossing back threats of violence for their cheek.

James eventually turned to Remus, both of them bantering back and forth over how I could distract Ophelia in an effort to embarrass me. It might have worked if I'd been listening to it all, but I was busy nudging Peter. He grinned up at me, pleased with himself. His timing wasn't coincidence – it never was. Peter had a knack for noticing when I was pitying myself and pulling me out of it.

I really had the best friends. There were no better group of people anywhere in this world, that was one thing I was sure of. I'd be damned if I let anyone hurt them, especially a nosy girl like Ophelia Marks.


	5. Chapter 4

_Ophelia_

 _Transfiguration of objects or animals into edibles is highly dangerous for many reasons. The first issue is-_

I yelped when a nudge from the boy on my left smeared the ink across the parchment, making the rest of the paragraph illegible. Both Lily and Remus looked up, staring in confusion. From across the room, the librarian made a harsh shushing noise.

"Sirius," I whisper-yelled, immediately reaching out to try and wipe the ink from my hand on his robes in retaliation.

He pulled out of reach and replied, "It was an accident!"

"It was not, Sirius Black, you did it on purpose."

"Why would I? You've gone barmy, Marks," and when I tried to swipe him with ink again, he added, "Stop trying to get ink on me, will you? I didn't do it on purpose."

Remus cut in, his voice full of warning, "Sirius..."

Sirius shot him a look of wide-eyed innocence and said, "Remus, I didn't, I swear."

I knew he had, even if he were a good actor. He'd been out to get me all week. There had been the first time, when he'd tripped me in the common room, which he said was just me being clumsy. Then there'd been Potions, where he'd added in an extra lacewing fly into my cauldron, resulting in a less-than-perfect draught. In Transfiguration, we'd had to partner up, and he'd picked me for the very first time in six years only to spend all of class transfiguring my belongings into small animals so that they were hard to catch when they ran off – one of my books became a fly that got squashed by a Ravenclaw boy and was now unusable.

None of my grades had suffered for his little pranks, a few marks here and there but nothing horrific, and there was only a small amount of property damage. None of them ever put me in danger of being hurt, physically. Most of his pranks weren't nearly as innocent as the ones I was being tortured with, but these were annoying and constant. I was sure he was trying to bother me until I jumped from the Astronomy tower.

"Do you guys mind?" an annoyed Huffleboy boy asked from the next table over, and Sirius shot him such a dirty look that he went back to his studying without anymore comment.

Lily huffed softly. "I knew you'd be a distraction, Black. You're not even studying, why are you here? Don't tell me James is going to be joining us next?"

He rolled his eyes in turn and replied, "I don't need to study Transfiguration – you saw my classwork. I'll study when we get to Charms and no, _James_ isn't. He's giving you space if you haven't noticed."

This seemed to satisfy her and she mumbled, more to herself than to him, "I did notice."

"Well, I don't think anyone invited you," I interjected, too annoyed to be friendly.

Remus cut in before Sirius could, admonishing me. "Ophelia, I'm surprised at you. You're usually so nice. Sirius is my friend and he's welcome here just like you are." It didn't seem to matter to him that Sirius was only here to bother me, of course...

Still, I felt a blush rising. Remus was like Lily in that he could easily make you feel badly about yourself without ever saying a mean word. It was a downright evil trait that I loathed about the two of them. I felt like a child caught doing something naughty. It wasn't fair – Sirius was bugging me, on purpose. Great, now I sounded more like a child.

"You're right, Remus," I sighed, and he nodded approvingly. I turned to Sirius and reluctantly apologized. "I'm sorry, Sirius, I'm sure it was an accident. I shouldn't have gone off on you like that." The whole time I spoke, a smirk grew on his face until it was unbearably smug. I wanted to throttle him for it. He was clearly having a grand ol' time with this.

Nodding with fake understanding, Sirius replied, "I forgive you. You girls can be weird at times, seeing things that _aren't there_." He stressed the last two words and I knew he was referring to something else. I'd known his bothering me was over my declaration to ferret out "Marauder" secrets, but I hadn't really expected him to take it this far. At first, I'd been kind of amused. Now, I was annoyed. I was about to be at the point where I had to take action back against him – which I hadn't wanted to do, because the boys were known for their clever pranks, and I only really pranked the girls upstairs with innocent bits of fun. I didn't know if I'd hold my own in a war against Sirius, let alone if the other boys joined in.

"Girls can be weird? I _said_ I was sorry, you git," I started.

Remus groaned, shaking his head at Sirius, who ignored him.

"You were acting barmy, I am supposed to not call you out on it?"

"I know you did it on purpose, you know!"

"Then why even apologize?"

"I can't PROVE you did it on purpose so I was giving you the benefit of the doubt, which you clearly don't deserve!"

"Oh, and you deserve it?"

"What's that even MEAN?"

A shadow fell over our table, shutting up our escalating argument. Madame Pince, the librarian, stood over us, looking as if she would have liked to have us strung up by our toes. She was not known for being understanding when it came to noise in her library.

"Get out of here with your screeching. Black, Marks, now. Go. Don't you dare come back here if you plan on raising your voices again, either!" Ironically, Madame Pinces' voice carried and caused several tables of students to stare at us getting told off.

Sirius popped up out of his chair, his hands raised in defeat to ward her off going into another tangent. He didn't look at all sorry to be getting kicked out, and he smothered a smile as he strolled out. I gathered my books and shrugged helplessly at Remus and Lily, both of which gave me looks that clearly said they thought I'd helped get myself into it.

I left the library with a blush on my face, trying hard to ignore the students who watched me as I weaved between their tables. I'd never been kicked out of anywhere before and it wasn't a pleasant feeling... Not to mention, I really had needed to study for Transfiguration and Remus was supposed to help Lily and I today. Now I would be missing out on that. Lovely.

Perhaps I'd be able to talk Lily into relaying the tips Remus gave her... Then I saw Sirius. He was up ahead, obviously headed back to the common room with his hands in his pockets, whistling. Of all things, whistling! Some jaunty little upbeat tune that floated down the hallway.

"Sirius Black, what is your problem?" I called, realizing as I approached him that he was quite a bit taller than I was and likely not intimidated by me in the slightest.

He turned and greeted me with a breathtaking smile. If I weren't so annoyed, then I'm sure it would have made my heart skip a beat. "What ever do you mean?"

I huffed. "You got us kicked out on purpose."

To my surprise, he laughed and agreed without remorse, "I did. Remus doesn't need you trying to figure him out while he studies."

"It had nothing to do with that," I told him, realizing that my voice was becoming whiny. Why did it matter what he thought? I shouldn't be whining like a child because he didn't believe me. Even so, I whined, "I actually needed to study Transfiguration and Remus is really good at it!"

Sirius studied me, eyes narrowing when I started fiddling with my hair to escape his stare. Finally, he sulkily said, "I'm better at it than he is."

I frowned. "He offered to help Lily and I. You didn't."

"I'm offering now, aren't I?"

"Are you?" I countered, giving him an incredulous look. "I didn't hear any offer!"

He hooked an arm around my shoulder, drawing me closer and swatting my hand away from my hair. I couldn't tell if he were in a good mood or maneuvering himself to strangle me. With a grin that was unnerving, Sirius said, "I'll tutor you, you little pest."

"You've going to transfigure my things to run away again," I cried in dismay, trying to pull away and not fully hiding a smile when he didn't let me go and instead forcibly ruffled my already-wild hair.

Wait? Wasn't I annoyed? I didn't feel annoyed anymore.

Sirius laughed, this time loudly and more genuinely than before.

"I am not," he said between laughs. "Besides, it was cute watching you try to catch that spider without actually touching it." Immediately after saying this, his face dropped and he let me pull away. He shook his head and more seriously said, "This way, you won't be bugging Remus."

My good mood had returned, though, and I teased, "Just bugging you, then?"

He groaned, but his lips were upturned in genuine amusement.

Point for me.

About then, we arrived at the common room and Sirius promptly abandoned me in favor of James and Peter.

The two were engaged in a heated battle of tag that was taking over the entire room, using the furniture as blocks that couldn't be reached around or climbed over to increase the difficulty. Nearly everyone in there, from every year, looked on in amusement and didn't seem to mind as the boys raced circles around them. It was clearly as much for the onlookers entertainment as it was the boys. Sirius joined them by taunting Peter, who was currently 'it,' and snickering when the smaller boy gave chase.

The self-proclaimed 'Marauders' had a way of being completely selfish and yet somehow endearing themselves to everyone anyway. It was enviable.

I carefully made my way to the stairs, but was intercepted by James Potter, who exclaimed, "Wother, Ophelia!" James and I had known each other since first year, having been in the same house and year, but we weren't ever friendly enough to hang out one-on-one.

"Wother James," I greeted, but it was almost lost underneath a sudden spurn of giggles from some fourth years who were being used by Sirius as human shields.

I started to continue on my way, but James grabbed my arm. "Where are you going? Come here, I need you!"

"Oi, what-" but he was half-ignoring me, turning around and kneeling down.

He looked over one shoulder and urgently demanded, "Get on!" At my wide-eyed look he winked and said, "I need you to have my back so they can't tag me. Literally!"

This kind of friendly silliness reminded me of that feeling I'd been missing, the friendship I'd wanted a piece of. Under most circumstances, I'd have just laughed and said no, but how could I ignore an attempt to bring me into the fold, even just once?

I hesitated, mostly just for show, my hand twirling a strand of hair.

At this, he urged, "You're the only one light enough," and just then Peter saw James from across the room, prompting James to exclaim, "Hurry!"

"Oh, alright," I laughed, slinking my arms around his neck and securing my legs around his waist as he hoisted me up.

Peter laughed and cried, "That's cheating!"

James shook his head, grinning madly. "You're just mad I thought of it first!"

"Why you little traitor," Sirius growled teasingly to me, making a startlingly fast lunge to avoid Peter, but was just barely caught anyway. There was much guffawing and jeering from the onlookers as Sirius made a show of declaring himself to be 'it' and telling us that we'd best get ready.

James and Peter raced to and fro, sometimes only narrowly escaping Sirius, who had noticeably longer reach than Peter had and was faster to boot. I was surprised James could keep up while carrying me, but it stood to reason given that he was on the Quidditch team.

After a particularly close call, I squealed, "Around the couch, go!" We dove around the couch and Sirius paced the length on the other side, smirking and judging which way to go.

A fifth year boy called out, "Sirius, go for James, he's got to be slowed by now!"

Not seeming to listen, Sirius made a lunge for Peter, but then reversed and headed straight for James. I squeaked in surprise, urging James to hurry, and he breathlessly tried to outpace Sirius. We started to round an armchair, but Sirius put on a burst of speed that James couldn't match, being worn out from carrying me, and we were tackled at nearly full speed.

The three of us tumbled onto the ground – a few people jumped out of the way – in a tangled mass of flailing limbs. I struggled to sit up, trying unsuccessfully to shove James' legs off of me. All of us were cackling like hyenas, and Sirius got to his feet first, using one hand to help each of us to our feet.

"You okay?" Sirius asked, though he was still laughing and smiling.

I snorted and joked, "I think you pulled some of my hair out."

James butted in, teasing, "You've got enough of it."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a red mass of hair. Turning, I spotted Lily and Remus, who had obviously been there for some time. They had positioned themselves out of the way of the game and had been looking on. I wondered what Lily had thought of my joining in a game with James – she claimed to hate him, but I knew she'd been softening.

I looked at her eyes cautiously, but they didn't meet mine. The redhead only had eyes for James; she watched his every movement, a tiny, wistful smile playing at her lips. I made a mental note to talk to her about that sometime later, but, for now...

"Lily," I called, knowing James wouldn't protest, "Want to join?"

Her eyes widened and she threw up her hands. "Oh, no, no, no... leave me out of it!"

James was fixated on her now, advancing threateningly, and I watched her laughingly fend him off. Despite her protesting, I was sure she enjoyed being included like this. She'd thank me later. Probably.

With everyone momentarily distracted watching them, Sirius pulled my attention back to him.

"I'm famished," he declared. "Up for a bite?"

I looked up in confusion. "It's nearly curfew."

His eyes sparkled with mischief. Softly, he asked, "Aren't you supposed to be a troublemaker?"

"Sort of... maybe..."

"I did promise to show you the kitchens."

I gasped happily, truly surprised that he had even remembered, which he must have taken for agreement. His hand encased mine and he pulled me along behind him, the two of us slipping away unnoticed.

For the length of three corridors and two stairwells, I tried to ignore the way my hand tingled and how nice his hand felt on mine. My eyes kept gravitating towards our hands. He'd taken it on his own. Weren't we supposed to be not getting along? This was the same boy who found it acceptable to trip me earlier this week.

I pulled my hand from his, not liking the way my stomach flip-flopped.

He didn't seem to mind, grinning down at me. His hand found its way to my lower back, gently guiding me and causing my breathing to become noticeably erratic.

"So," I tried to distract myself, "Where are they anyway?"

Sirius tutted at me. "We're almost there."

We came to a halt in front of a painting of a pear and I gave Sirius an expectant look. He wiggled his eyebrows at me and nudged me forward another step.

"Tickle the pear," he instructed.

"Tickle it? Why?"

"Just do it, Ophelia, honestly!"

Before I could say anything else, he rolled his eyes and grabbed the hand I'd been twirling my hair with, using it to reach up and wiggle our joined fingers against the pear. To my delight, it let out a high-pitched giggle and swung open.

I gaped and jabbed Sirius. "Did you see that?"

"Yes, you nutter, I saw it."

As soon as we stepped inside, house-elves swarmed around us. I knew they were house-elves from the pictures of them I'd seen in a book somewhere – being Muggleborn, I'd never ran into any in person before. I was glad I'd seen a picture, otherwise I'd have probably recoiled in shock.

"Mister Sirius!" squealed a tiny voice, and one of the house-elves pushed their way forward.

"Finky," Sirius greeted warmly, "Think we could get a spot of tea and maybe some of those pumpkin pasties we had with dinner last night...? If it's not too much trouble." The way he spoke made it seem like he was here often requesting food from Finky and his – was Finky male? I couldn't tell – response proved it. The little elf nodded vigorously and turned to me.

"Miss! What will miss be having?"

"I'm Ophelia," I corrected, offering him my hand.

After a wide-eyed stare, Finky took it. He apparently had no concept of a handshake, because he held my hand in his and squeaked, "Kind Miss Ophelia! Finky is pleased to be meeting! Anything you want, Finky can make it!"

Sirius snorted, amused, and I subtly elbowed him.

"Oh, just the tea and pasties should be fine, Finky, thank you," I said, feeling overwhelmed by the idea of having anything I wanted. It was strange how I could be hungry and not able to think of food at the same time.

We ended up seated at a makeshift table set up in a corner of the kitchen. The way it was put together, with four fold-up chairs and a simple table, made it seem like wasn't supposed to really be here. I suspected that the Marauders had put this together long ago.

"Do you come here often?" I asked him, gesturing to the other chairs.

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to pick me up?"

I giggled and retorted, "I would, but you're probably too heavy," and he groaned in response. Scooting my chair over, I purposefully got too close and looked up at him with my most wild grin. "Don't pretend you don't like my jokes," I sternly instructed.

"They're _awful_ ," Sirius exclaimed, slinging an arm around the back of my chair. I'd only scooted closer to bother him with my proximity for a tease, but he didn't seem at all uncomfortable with it. It would have been nice, but his arm had pinned a lock of my hair down so that it pulled too hard.

I tried to wiggle away. "Sirius, my hair is caught."

"Your hair is _everywhere_."

He moved his arm, but, without warning, his hands were gathering my hair up away from my face. I froze in place, heart hammering. "Here we go," he murmured lowly, "This is much better. D'yknow I found a strand of your hair in my bag the other day?"

I nodded dumbly, taking off a hair tie from my wrist and letting him complete the messy ponytail he'd created. He looked ridiculously handsome when he was focused on something; his eyes were glittering with concentration and his face truly serious, which was a rare sight.

Sirius studied his work, then met my eyes and smiled. He was still so close. Why I had moved this close? I could hardly breathe like this. Was I supposed to be saying something? It seemed like I'd forgotten every word that I knew all at once.

Thankfully, Finky saved me. He bustled over, setting before us a tray of pumpkin pastries piled so high that we couldn't possibly ever eat them all. A pitcher of tea and two glasses floated along behind him. I immediately served us both, giving us each one pastry and pouring the tea myself (although I suspected Finky would have served it if I'd let him).

"Ungh, this hits the spot," Sirius moaned, swallowing hard and forking in another bite. With crumbs falling out of his mouth, he muttered something more that I couldn't understand.

I found it fairly easy to get a hold of myself watching him talk with his mouth full – it was incredibly unattractive, but he only snorted when I told him that. In-between dainty bites, I requested, "So, tell me something about you that I don't already know."

"I've got a birthmark on my thigh."

My eyes rolled of their own accord. "No, something deeper. Something important!"

Sirius served himself another pastry and, only after a long pause, said, "I ran away from home this summer."

"Wait, really? Why? Where'd you go?"

Coming from a loving home, running away seemed inconceivable to me. My parents were lovely and perfect; my dad was a mechanic with his own shop and my mum was an accountant... It might have been a bit boring, but they dotted on me. On the day they'd found out I was a witch from Professor McGonagall, their very first response had been to joke about how they'd always known I was a bit off.

"You have probably heard that I'm... not like my family. It was nothing special, the night I left, it was just that it became too much. The screaming, the punishments, the attempts to 're-educate' me..." His sinister tone hinted at something truly horrible and I took in a sharp breath. "...I just fled in the dead of night, like a coward, and went to the Potters."

Softly, I probed, "You live there now? What about new books, supplies, that sort?"

Sirius gave me an openly vulnerable glance that made my heart ache in sympathy.

"The Potters," he said shortly, "They're treating me like another son."

The gentle way he said it and the frown on his face contradicted each other. I got the idea that he was grateful, but not the sort of person who enjoyed depending on others. It was kind of endearing. I wanted to hug him. Somehow, I didn't think he'd appreciate it.

"I'm sure they're happy to have you," I said, not knowing if this would be comforting coming from someone who had no idea if they really would be happy or not.

He sighed. "Enough of that. It's your turn."

"My turn for what?"

"Tell me something I don't know about you."

I blinked. I didn't like the question turned back on me. Not because I had anything to hide, but because I had _nothing_ to hide. There wasn't much interesting about me that Sirius wouldn't have known from the years of being in close proximity. I had no dark secrets. Nothing very terrible happened to me. I knew I'd have to come up with something, but... he would probably realize how boring I was.

Thinking of this school year, I finally found something. I didn't particularly want to share, the words just bubbled up of their accord.

"I'm avoiding Lily."

"Why?"

I reached up automatically to play with my hair, my nervous tick, forgetting it was up until I had nothing to grab. Tugging at the end of the ponytail instead, I blew out a breath and tried to explain it correctly.

"Well, you know Snape and her had that falling out-" Sirius' face darkened, remembering the day, "Now it's like... she wants to hang out, sit together, study, as if I'm just supposed to take his place. She's always been my best friend, you know, but I wasn't hers. I...I know I should be there for her, but... I'm resentful."

Sirius nodded. "It's understandable. I'd be angry if someone chose Snape over me, too." He looked genuinely angry just contemplating the idea, then softened a bit and reluctantly opined, "You should talk to her, though, I'm sure you'd both be happier once things are patched up."

I'd known I should talk to her, Sirius hadn't said anything I hadn't already thought of, but... It was nice to hear, all the same. The idea of him trying to solve my problems made me smile.

"I know," I shrugged.

"No," he shook his head. "I know what that response means, I'm not daft. You'll say you know and then keep avoiding her like you have been. Pick a time to do it – I mean it, pick a time."

He was right, of course, I had no big intentions of talking to her about it. Part of me wanted to wipe the knowing look off of his face, but the bigger part was fondly contemplating how adorable his concern was.

"Next year?"

"Don't be a pest."

"Three months, two days?"

"Ophelia, if you don't pick a time this week, then I'll ambush you both and lock you in a room until you hash it out like men," he threatened, grinning to himself.

In-between snorts of undignified laughter, I teased, "Now who's a pest! I promise you we'll work it out in the week, but I can't pick a time... it'll have to be the right moment."

"Alright but when you're locked in a room, don't go acting surprised."

I shook my head, giving him a fond look. He thought I was nosy, yet here he was threatening to meddle in my business. As much as I wanted to point out the similarities, I knew he'd probably balk and go straight back to being a prat. Truth be told, his pranks were kind of funny – in hindsight, anyway, they weren't all that great in the moment – although I definitely preferred him like this.

For a long moment, we stared at one another with matching smiles, which Sirius promptly ruined by seeing the time and exclaiming, "Blimey! It's after curfew now and I don't have the-" He cut himself off. With wide eyes and a gaping mouth, he looked downright horrified.

"Have the what?" I questioned. By the way he stiffened and tried to smooth out his face, I realized that he had nearly let something slip out that he shouldn't have. Like a dog with a bone, I relentlessly pestered, "The _what_? Something to help you sneak around?"

He stood abruptly, frowning. " _No_. I was just saying how I don't have the courage to face another detention with Minnie this soon after the last one."

I followed him out of the kitchens, walking at double speed just to keep up with his long strides. In a hiss, I challenged, "It _sounded_ like you meant something else."

In the empty corridor, my voice echoed. Even though I tried to be quiet, my footsteps made gentle clacking noises. For his part, Sirius moved as if born to the art of sneaking around – even his robes didn't rustle as loudly as mine did. I went to light my wand, but his hand closed around mine.

"I didn't and you're too loud," Sirius whispered. "No lights, just follow me."

I could barely see well enough to walk around, but Sirius put on speed and began rushing through corridors and up staircases. At some points we ducked into alcoves and behind a couple of tapestries that I was sure I'd never seen or used. It was only a shame that I was struggling to keep up and had no idea where we really were at these points. I'd have liked to make note of where they were.

With only one close brush with Slughorn (who somehow didn't notice us dashing behind a statue _or_ the yelp I gave when Sirius stepped on my foot), we made it to the Gyffindor common room.

"You know a lot of shortcuts," I said slyly, "And it seemed like you were going to say something else back there about not having _something_."

Sirius sighed, giving me an unhappy stare. "Merlin, Ophelia, I was starting to like you and now you're off doing this again. Can't you just drop it? It really wasn't anything."

He looked genuinely put out and I felt a twinge of sympathy. I suppose it wasn't nice to pester him... I'd always known he wasn't going to just tell me any Marauder secrets. The only way I'd learn any secrets was by a lot of sneaking around and luck.

Even though I did _not_ believe that it was nothing, I swallowed my curiosity and said, "Okay, okay, I believe you. Sorry I was pestering."

The apology got a smile out of him and he drawled, "You probably can't help it since you're such a pest."

I was beginning to suspect he enjoyed calling me that.


End file.
